The Silent One
by Arwen Imladviel
Summary: Skywise meets a maiden in the Sun Village... need I say more? SIX chapters now, to be continued...
1. Mute

**_The Silent One_**

The day was at its hottest, and everyone sought shade in Sorrow's End. No one tended the fields and gardens this time of the day. Skywise lounged under the eaves of a hut with some of the maidens. 

A solitary figure walked to the well. A tall female, not clad in the usual long-skirted, broad-sleeved, hood-topped dress of a gardener wife, but in a loincloth and a small blouse. Her hair looked strange, as if made of ropes thick as a finger. Skywise did not remember seeing her before; yet her clothing identified her as one of the merry maidens.  
"Who is she?"  
"It's just the Mute. Don't bother about her."  
The words of the girl had an effect quite opposite to the one the speaker desired. Skywise became curious. He stood up and walked to the well. The female elf was hauling up the water jar and did not turn to look at him.  
"Shade and sweet water." Skywise greeted her.  
She turned towards him and looked at him. He now saw the hair was braided in hundreds of tiny braids. She remained silent. She lifted up the well's jar, pouring the water into her own, undecorated jar. "My name is Skywise."  
The one they had called 'The Mute' nodded, not looking at him.  
"What is your name?"  
She lifted her dark eyes in a piercing stare. Maybe she really never spoke, Skywise thought. An idea struck his mind, maybe inspired by those proud eyes that so reminded him of another silent one. He tried to send to the maiden.  
Can you send?  
Her eyes turned from proud to angry. She spat in his face and turned her back to him, walking away.

Skywise returned to the maidens.  
"I told you not to bother about the Mute."  
"Why not? Why is she like that?"  
"I don't know, she was like that already when I was a child."  
"Does she have a name?"  
"Oh yes. Her name is Dilah. But she doesn't like it spoken."

After that day, Skywise was obsessed. He had to solve the mystery of Dilah the Mute. It turned out few wanted to speak of her, the maidens least of all, for obvious reasons. She was not one of them, she wanted to be an outsider - and the girls made it clear they had sought her company before they learned. In an eight of days or so, he saw her again, this time walking past the caves where the wolfriders dwelt and climbing up into the mountains. She used a spear as her walking-stick. Needless to say, Skywise followed her. It was evening, the sun had just set. For a moment he hesitated; a lot of interesting things could have happened down in the village, and would now take place in his absence. Was Dilah worth that much? Definitely. 

She had a wolfrider's soul, he felt - one that reminded him of Strongbow. She didn't like her name spoken - was it like a soulname to her? And her clothes - like a young Sun Villager boy's, actually. Her colours of choice were gold and green and yellow. Was she going to hunt with that spear of hers? Yet the wolves knew all who hunted, and they had no knowledge of a female elf hunting alone on their territory. A hunter leaves tracks - unless, of course, she only tried to hunt, but failed? Skywise realised the maiden had walked quite far - and into an area with no large game. To the edges of the wasteland of sand. And now she stepped on the sand. Skywise watched, hiding in a shadow. He had no desire to walk on the hateful surface ever again. But Dilah had stopped. She lay down, as one would to sleep on a hot day. She seemed not to feel the night cold. Perhaps the sand still held the warmth of the day. 

Dilah lay still for a long time. Child Moon rose, followed soon by Mother Moon. The desert was silent. Skywise felt the chill but dared not move. He wished he had thought to take a cloak. 

I can't stay here all night, he thought, or I'll freeze to the bones. He tried to sneak away as quietly as he had come, but Dilah must possess a hunter's senses. She jumped up and grabbed her spear in a heartbeat, and aimed it straight at Skywise, who had trusted the shadows of the rock to hide him. 

He stepped out, holding his hands open for her to see: no weapons. At the sight of him Dilah's features twisted in a snarl that would have suited a wolf much better. 

Skywise reached out his hand in a gesture of friendship. Dilah replied by pointing towards Sorrow's End. The message was clear: go away. Skywise ignored her. The point of the spear was suddenly almost oh his throat, the gesture was repeated. He did not want to start a fight, not with another elf, certainly not with a pretty maiden. He turned and walked away, knowing Dilah might despise him as a coward. It didn't matter. She despised him in any case. 


	2. Speechless

The following day, Skywise went to see the Mother of Memory. On her throne, radiant Savah was like a high one, wise and gentle.  
"What do you seek from me, child?"  
"I wish to know about the maiden called the Mute. Dilah."  
"And why do you wish to hear about her?"  
"I am puzzled by her behaviour towards me."  
"Because she is not like other maidens? Because her eyes are hard and her mouth never smiles?"  
"I would like to help her. To make her smile."  
"Dilah has never wanted anyone's help. I will tell you her story. She is over four hundred years old. When she was young, she decided she wanted to learn magic. But she had no magic in her blood, and without it, no teaching can give an elf any magical abilities. Had she had even the tiniest spark, it might have grown and matured with care and practice, but she was completely blank. She asked for my teaching, and although I knew it was useless, I took her in and started telling her about the nature of magic. I explained at length why Dilah's wish could not be granted. I showed her how others used their natural talents. Finally Dilah told me she understood she had failed. I said: 'You have not failed in learning - you know more now than when you started.' To this, she replied: 'Is wisdom the same as weakness?'" 

"Three days later she came to Leetah for healing. There was a wound stabbed through her left palm and she refused to tell what had happened. Leetah healed her and told me later she thought Dilah had pierced her own palm with a knife, on purpose. 

"Some years went by, Dilah trying all kinds of weird tricks to find magic and force it enter her. She fasted for months, went into the desert to seek mirages and visions that were nothing but air wavering in the heat, she joined passionately with every magic user who would take her to their bed, she did strange things with blood and stupid things with mushrooms. Everything failed. Finally she declared she would stop speaking for the rest of her life. Perhaps she thought that if she gave up something, something else would replace it. Ever since she has lived alone, walked alone, eaten alone. She does her share in her mother's garden, carries a spear but seldom hunts, and sometimes, just sometimes, surprises a male by inviting him to wild and wordless joining. Her last such lovemate was Rayek. He didn't tolerate her for long, though - he likes to be in charge, not the subject of a female's whims. If you want to be with Dilah you have to obey her rules." 

"I see. Rayek? Well, well. Thank you, Mother of Memory. I think I understand things a bit better now." 

In the evening, Skywise saw Dilah returning from the gardens. He followed her to a tiny hut at the edge of the village. A white cat leaped from the windowsill and leaned against Dilah's legs. She stopped to fondle it. Skywise knelt down, seemingly to pat the cat, but he let his hand touch Dilah's. The female elf picked up the cat and snarled at him in a way that had become all too familiar. Skywise remained kneeling and looked up into her eyes with his eyes full of pleading, like a wolf puppy trying to convince its elf-friend that it is completely innocent of everything, especially chewing that new bow to splinters. 

Dilah took hold of his hand and hoisted him up with surprising strength, then pressed him against the wall of her hut, and only then did she free her other hand by putting the cat on the windowsill. Skywise felt something cold touch his neck - the blade of Dilah's knife. The girl was mad! Absolutely mad. And he was mad himself for getting interested in her. Finally she was pressing against his body, but not in the way he had dreamed of. 

And then, suddenly, without moving the knife, she kissed him.

* * *

Please review, everyone! I need lots of help with this baby, this is my first Elfquest fic ever! Especially comment if something seemed odd or wrong for the World of Two Moons. I won't continue writing if I get no reviews whatsoever. 

- Yours, Arwen Imladviel 


	3. Wordless

Dilah's bed was tiny, Skywise noted as the mute girl led him into her hut. They undressed each other in heavy, heady silence. Dilah was amazing, full of lust, and their joining was an act of beauty and wonder.

Then it happened, after they had explored several positions, she reached a peak of rapture, perhaps the sixth or seventh time that night, when he was drinking the mead of her lap in passionate kisses -

- She cried out, an animal sound, harsh and dry. Her hand, tangled in his hair, pushed his head away. He caught a glimpse of tears on her face as she climbed from the bed. Not bothering to cover her nakedness, Dilah ran away into the night.

"Oh, puckernuts!" Skywise found his breeches, but by the time he was in them and out the door, Dilah was nowhere in sight. He went back into the hut and put on the rest of his clothes. Deep in thought, his feet led him to the ridge of hills protecting Sorrow's End. Soon he stood on a familiar ledge, the vantage point where, four turns of the seasons ago, he and Cutter had first seen the Sun Folk and decided to attack them.

What had he done wrong? He had been very gentle - how could he have hurt her? As he sat, going over his movements over and over again in his head, Mother Moon set in Sun-Goes-Down, and the smallest, shyest stars came out. Child Moon was a mere pale sliver near the horizon.

Then a familiar shape emerged from the shadow and he was greeted by a wet tongue washing his neck. Starjumper had come to entice his elf-friend to join the hunt. Skywise scratched the wolf's ears.  
"Anyone ever got a scare from you putting your tongue where it doesn't belong?"  
He did not expect an answer, of course. But he got one, from the person who had come to stand behind them silent as a shadow.

"I should have guessed you were to blame." Cutter sat beside him, taking care not to go too near the edge.  
"Blame? Oh no, has something happened to Dilah?"  
"If you mean the girl who came into our hut and woke Leetah talking only with gestures, she seemed all right - more than all right, quite lovely in fact, and I got to see all of her. But I assume there is a reason for the worry in her eyes. What did you do to make her forget her clothes and run to the healer?"

"I wish I knew."  
"Want to tell me about it?"

Skywise related all his experiences with Dilah from their first meeting to her sudden departure. When he had finished, Cutter laughed.  
"You really don't get it? You are supposed to be the clever one!"  
"You mean you know what startled her so?"  
"Think about it. She is _the Mute_. What did she do, right before she tore herself from you?"  
"She - she cried out!"  
"Right. Ages ago, she made this mindless oath not to speak, and you made her break it. She lost control of herself. You didn't hurt her - quite the opposite."  
"You mean - because I - oh, stars!"

He contemplated the revelation for a while. He had, quite unintentionally, achieved what he had dreamed of: broken the cold façade of Dilah, the walls of silence she had surrounded herself with. He was quite certain she would not love him for it - she probably never wanted to see him again. Back to the snarls and spitting, and the hatred in her eyes. One thing bothered him, though.  
"Why did she go to Leetah? Knowing her, I'd have expected her to run to the desert, to be alone."  
"I have no idea."  
"Would you mind asking Leetah about it?"  
"Why don't you ask her yourself?"  
"She doesn't like me much."  
"What makes you think that?"  
"Well, she's exactly the sort not to approve of my collection of lovemates. The sort not to share."  
"You don't know her at all! Just because we don"t share right now, her and I, doesn't mean we never will. By the High Ones, she's a healer! When she was younger she did initiations all the time."  
"Really?"  
"Really. I"m surprised you don't know gossip like that."  
"The maidens are awfully jealous of her, even Shen-Shen. They don'"t want to talk about Leetah, because they think everyone is comparing them to her. She has always seemed to get the best of everything… first Rayek, then you, Recognitionand twin children… and worst of all, she is so nice and clever and lovable they can't help but like her!"  
"And you, Fahr? What do you think of my Leetah?" Cutter wrapped his arms around Skywise from behind.  
"Oh, Tam! I admire her and I fear her, and yes, I am jealous of her too."  
"Jealous?"  
"We haven"t had a single wrestle-in-the-furs since you Recognized her. I know I shouldn't complain, but I miss you, sometimes."  
"Miss me? But I haven't gone anywhere."  
"You've gone farther than the stars, Tam. You've gone somewhere I can never follow. You have a Recognized lifemate, and you are utterly devoted to each other, almost as bad as Strongbow and Moonshade."  
"Recognition fades, replaced by love. And when that time comes, Leetah and I will have eyes for others once more. Someday, we'll share."  
"Is that an invitation?"  
"Yes, Fahr, it is."

* * *

Note: I'm sorry that I didn't express more clearly last time that the story wasn't over yet... this one isn't the last chapter, either. If only I could think of _how_ to continue the story... Thanks for your reviews, keep them coming! And if you have any suggestions/guesses/whatever for what happens next, please tell me! Will Dilah start talking? Can she forgive Skywise? Why did she go to Leetah instead of to meditate in the desert or something? (I have some ideas but I'm not certain about anything yet.) 

- Yours, Arwen Imladviel 


	4. Silent

Leetah had been alarmed, of course, to be woken from peaceful sleep shaken by the hands of the Silent One, as she always thought of Dilah. Cutter, his wolfrider senses keen as ever, had already sensed the intruder and drawn his sword, but was now just as wordless as the Silent One ever. Clearly the maiden was no danger - she was stark naked and in her scent fear mingled with the afterglow of joining. 

Leetah soon recalled the only communication possible with the Silent One - Toorah's hand-speak. In the days when Sorrow's End had no healer, there had once lived an elf who lost his hearing in an accident. He had devised a language of gestures and taught it to Toorah and some others, and Toorah in turn had passed it on as a game to amuse her daughter. When Dilah stopped speaking, she agreed to learn the hand-speak in case of emergencies. Leetah was the healer, and she had not spared stern words when she had told Dilah her childish oath might endanger the lives of her fellow villagers - she could not shout a warning if she saw a sting-tail in someone's path, for example. It was the least she could do to learn the hand-speak, to communicate with the healer.

The Silent One was repeating three signs over and over:  
--- I --- speak --- cry ---  
Leetah answered, in voice: "Are you hurt?"  
--- no --- hurt ---  
"Why did you come to me?"  
--- come --- Leetah --- no --- come --- healer ---  
Leetah sighed in relief, and reached out to touch Dilah's shoulder, a gesture of the universal language known to all who have hands, and turned to her lifemate:  
"It's all right. This is the Silent One, this is how she speaks. Nobody's hurt, I'll explain later."  
Cutter nodded uncertainly, got dressed and left the hut. He had the feeling he was eavesdropping on secrets, even though he understood none of the gestures. The deaf Rillfisher had never needed such clumsy language, she could send. This girl seemed to hear just fine, but for some reason she did not speak.

Leetah asked the Silent One: "As a friend?"  
Dilah nodded.  
"What is the matter?"  
While saying this, she gazed meaningfully on Dilah's naked body. The girl seemed to realize her state only then, and wrapped her arms around herself. Leetah took one of her own cloaks and covered the girl with it.  
--- sorry ---  
"It's all right. Tell me."  
--- I --- speak --- cry ---  
"You have spoken?"  
--- I --- cry --- joining --- it --- so --- good --- I --- cry ---  
"Ah. With whom?"  
Dilah wore the puzzled expression that meant she had no sign for the name of the person in question. Then she grinned. She placed two fingers of each hand on her brows and drew a curved shape around her face, ending on her cheeks.  
"Skywise?"  
Dilah nodded.  
"And why are you here now, instead of with him?"  
--- I --- afraid ---  
"Because you broke your oath?"  
--- because --- lost --- control ---  
"Control? It's joining you are talking about! You should lose control... but you never did before, did you?"  
--- no ---  
"Because you think to lose control is to give it to your lovemate, to lose your freedom - you think it is all a game, a game about power."  
--- before --- I --- think --- that --- now --- I --- no --- know ---  
"I remember your initiation. You never understood what sharing was all about, either. In that, you were a bit like Rayek, although his reasons were more personal."  
--- I --- will --- never --- join --- again ---  
"Really? Because you fear you might cry again?"  
Dilah nodded.  
"Why must you deny yourself so much? First voice, now pleasure."  
--- Sun-Toucher ---  
"What has my father got to do with this?"  
--- magic --- he --- find --- in --- darkness ---  
"There is more to his powers than blindness and you know it. Besides, it hasn't worked for you, has it?"  
Dilah shook her head sadly.  
"And you have been silent well over three hundred years now. Don't you think it might be time to try something different?"  
--- what ---  
"Lose control. Speak and cry. Laugh and sing."  
--- no ---  
"Then give yourself fully to pleasure. Become truly initiated, at last. Who knows what doors that might open inside you - and I don't mean magic ones. Not the way you understand magic, at least."  
--- afraid --- I --- cry ---  
"Oh, High Ones grant me patience! That at least is easily prevented. Just keep your mouth full."  
Dilah stared at the healer for a moment until it dawned to her what Leetah meant. She grinned, the second time that night, an expression no-one but Leetah had seen in over three centuries - Leetah, her initiator and first lovemate, if only because Dilah had sought power in the embraces of those who possessed it.


	5. Echo

It was three days since the incident with Dilah, and Skywise found it hard to stop thinking about her even for a moment. She, however, ignored him completely, as if he was not worth hatred or any other emotion. He had asked Leetah, but she had refused to explain Dilah's behavior, saying that if the Silent One herself wanted him to know he would know, voice or no voice.

It was noon, and he was resting with Starjumper in the cave he had chosen as his dwelling. He was thinking about Dilah's voice. He had heard the voices of many a female in throes of passion. Foxfur's sighs had been almost like laughter; Nightfall, sometimes, howled like a wolf. The Sun Village girls moaned and squealed like birds, or miaowed and purred like cats. Dilah had been silent, the only sign of pleasure her intensified breath, silent until that last time when she had cried out like no female Skywise had ever joined with.

Yet there was something familiar in her voice. It took him a moment to realize who had cried like that, wild and hoarse-voiced in the midst of a rare initiation to a pleasure so exquisite it was almost akin to pain.

Tam.

He sighed. Yet another reason to be obsessed about Dilah, yet another memory to muddle the 'now'. Better get some sleep. He'd need his strength on the hunt tonight.

Leaning on the flank of Starjumper, Skywise slept. And dreamed:

Dilah walked down the mountain path, into the wasteland of sand. This time she kept on walking. There were no stars in the sky above; it was all covered in dark clouds. He ran after her, shouting:  
"Wait! You'll die out there! There is no water!"  
Dilah stopped and turned.  
"I need no water. I can make the clouds rain whenever I wish." Her voice was Cutter's voice, but without its usual warmth.  
"No, you can't! Savah says you can't!"  
"Does she now? I know the clouds better than she does."  
"Savah knows magic better than anyone! You have clouds in your head if you think otherwise."  
"Enough. I'm going."  
"No! Wait!"  
He tried to run after her, but although she walked with no haste, it was impossible to catch her. As if he had not moved at all, the way one often tries to run in dreams. Dilah walked on, into the darkness, into the cloudy sky. She evaporated like mist, was gone like a wavering heat-vision. Her spear lay abandoned in the sand.

Then the clouds rained, and the rain was blood.


	6. Nameless

Dilah sat on her windowsill and dangled a ball of colourful feathers on a string in front of her cat and watched her play. The white cat had no name, at least no name known to any elf. Perhaps cats had names for each other, she thought, secret names in a feline language of sound and scent and touch. Perhaps this pretty creature who with her was as playful and affectionate as a kitten was called Ratslayer or Cruelclaws by her own kin. Or perhaps not. Maybe cats had no more need for names than the Silent One herself. 

Dilah sighed almost soundlessly. If only she could levitate the toy, how the cat would enjoy it! And so would she. But no. Her lot in life was to be without magic. Once again she though of Leetah's words. She wouldn't break her wow, useless or not. That would be a humiliation. But her other advice... maybe there was some truth to it. Yet she had hesitated, for three days now. And she did not know why. Was she afraid? 

No! She feared nothing, absolutely nothing. So she would follow the healer's advice, just to prove herself she was not afraid of losing control, if she wanted to. 

There was another question to consider. Did she want what Leetah had called 'becoming truly initiated'? Oh yes. It sounded like it could be a great pleasure. Despite her ascetic ways, Dilah had nothing against pleasure. 

Now, who would she trust with this loss of control? Someone so weak he would never use it againt her? Handsome Zhantee, maybe? Or Ahnshen, whom the girls had been whispering about for at least two centuries now? It would have to be a male. Love made them stupid while it made the maidens only wiser. Someone like Maleen would see straight into her heart. 

She thought of the Wolfrider. And then she couldn't stop thinking about him. She couldn't stop comparing him to the village males, and always to his favour. He was stronger than them, younger, yet experienced. He knew how to please a girl. And he was handsome. Not to mention that he was already enthralled by Dilah, and hungry for more. Ohh, so hungry. She had seen it in his eyes. 

Any maiden would be flattered by such devotion. So it was only natural Dilah thought of him. But why couldn't she stop thinking about him? Surely he was not the best choice for what she planned? She didn't know him well enough. He couldn't be trusted, especially if she was developing some obsession about him. He might think she was in love with him. He might think he had some power over her. 

But he had such beautiful silver eyes, a treacherous part of her mind reminded her. 

Curse him, curse his eyes! He was a savage. An animal. 

Yes... an animal. Such a fierce and hungry young wolf he was... 

The toy had stopped moving, and now the nameless cat grew impatient and pawed Dilah's hand.  
"Meaow!" 

Absentmindedly, she resumed the play. Her arm was tired. If only she could levitate the toy... 

Night was falling. Dilah watched two Wolfriders walk past on the path. They were holding hands and whispering endearments to each other. It was the young couple, the girl who had almost got trampled by a frantic zwoot and her dark-haired lovemate, the one with the funny hat. They seemed to notice her gaze and the boy waved his hand and called out:   
"Good evening!"  
Dilah answered with a smile and a wave. She saw the girl turn to the boy and thought she would whisper the gossip she had no doubt heard about the Mute. But no, she only looked at him, and he nodded. Almost as if they had spoken without words. Then she recalled she had not heard the susurration of their whispers earlier, she had just imagined it from their gestures. 

The young lovers went their way, towards the caves. The moons rose, and the wolves began to howl. 

Dilah was lost in thought. She was arranging her memories to piece together a realization. 

When the Wolfriders had just arrived, Maleen had come to her one day, very exited. She had told there was a mute one among them. A male, no less, although one with a family. The girl had dragged her to meet the grim-faced archer. 

"Hi, Strongbow. This here is the Mute, she doesn't want her name said. She doesn't speak. Just like you."  
He had glared at Maleen, then turned to stare intently at Dilah. After a moment, he shook his head, a dissappointed expression on his face. His lifemate, the tanner, had come to speak for him:  
"Not like him. She can't send, can she?"  
"Send? What is that?"  
Dilah had turned away from them, showing she was not interested in something the newcomer could do and she couldn't. 

She was quite certain she knew what sending was. Savah had never called it by any name, but the Mother of Memory could talk soul to soul even over a distance. Dilah found it disturbing how she knew her deepest, most secret thoughts just by looking at her. Long ago, she had offered to teach her something of that, something any elf could learn if they wanted to. But she did not desire such openness. She had nothing to say to anyone even in voice - what need had she for a mind-to-mind communication? Especially when the only one she would be able to communicate with was Savah? 

Now, though, things were different. The wolfriders had that skill, the villagers had not. So, she would have plenty of occasions to flaunt it. And even some reason to. And ohh, how she would make Maleen jealous! 

"Silent One?"  
Dilah turned. It was the Wolfrider. Skywise.  
"You looked more beautiful than ever, just now. When you smiled. You should smile more often."  
Dilah lifted her eyebrows, a challenge in her eyes: make me.  
"I saw a weird dream today. So I went and asked Savah about it. I told her I dreamed of you, walking into the burning waste. The sky was black, starless. You said you needed no water, for you could make the clouds rain. I said you couldn't but you went anyway. And you vanished into the sky, and then it rained. It rained your blood. I was sure the dream meant you were in danger, but Savah disagreed. She says if my dream means anything it means a change, an not necessarily into a bad direction. She said the blood was not yours, but the blood of a dream you could not achieve. She said it was time for you to sacrifice a dream, and that I had sensed that from you." 

Dilah laughed. Her laughter was a silent movement of the mouth, clearly a practiced expression but a sweet sight nonetheless. 

"Savah also warned that you would not believe me. That you would laugh at me. But I wanted to see you laugh, Dilah. I wanted to see you smile." 

And Dilah smiled. She couldn't help it, any more that she could have ignored the plea of her nameless cat when she pawed at her and begged for attention. 

An animal he was. A cute one. 


	7. Quiet

Skywise answered Dilah's smile.  
"I'm glad you aren't angry at me anymore, for making you break your oath."  
Dilah shook her head. Her black braids twisted like a nest of ribbon-snakes.  
"I'm very sorry about it. If there is any way I can make it up to you..."  
Dilah gestured with her hand for him to move closer. When he stood beside the window, she climbed down and stood beside him. 

Then she kissed him, once again without warning. She wrapped her arms and her whole body around him. When Skywise could breathe again he whispered:  
"Oh, yes, oh High Ones yes."  
Dilah laughed her soundless laughter once more. She put her hand in his and led him inside. Once there, she closed the curtains and lit some candles. The light revealed disturbing details - a faded bloody handprint on the wall, a knife with a jagged edge resting on a table, a zwoot skull in a corner. But the soft glow also illuminated homely things - the cat's sleeping basket, a torn skirt with a needle and a ball of thread beside it on a chair, and the strong, warm colours of tapestries and pillows. 

The six candles surrounded the pit-bed more or less evenly placed. It was obvious where the girl wanted to centre his attention. 

Dilah began to undress. She danced slowly as she did it, making it a flirt, a performance. Then she gestured Skywise to lie down on the bed. She straddled him and started undressing him, beginning with the headpiece. She did not touch the lodestone, instead she opened his belt and rid him of his tunic. Then she changed position, still sitting on his stomach but with her back to him now, and removed his boots and trousers. Then his red underpants. 

Dilah lay down on him, her head between his legs, his between hers. It was so simple, keeping her mouth full, she thought. And not unpleasant at all. Not with him doing his share of the pleasure-giving. A strange thing happened - their bloodsongs were so well tuned to each other that they reached the moment of deep satisfaction together, sharing it. 

They tried other positions and forms of joining after that. Dilah took care to kiss him a lot, anywhere her mouth reached. Once her passion betrayed her and she bit him on the shoulder. He howled but it didn't sound like pain, it sounded like pleasure. 

Finally she fell asleep in his arms. Skywise was in no hurry to leave her; he had told Cutter he would not attend the hunt tonight. The taste of blood had been all too vivid in his memory of the dream. So, although he was not particularly tired, he lay down beside her on the small pit-bed. The white cat stretched herself in the basket and walked to curl up in the bend of Dilah's knee. Soon its purring filled the hut with a sound of peace and deep contentment. 

Contentment such as only animals can reach. 

After a while, a sweet, high voice spoke:  
"Mother, I'm fine. Don't you worry. This is my life."  
Skywise stared at Dilah. Her eyes remained closed, but her mouth had spoken the words in her sleep, unbeknownst to her. Her dreams obeyed no oaths. 

Her voice was a female voice, a stranger's voice. Not Tam's. And that was how Skywise knew he was not the one dreaming. 

"Mother, the herb garden has gone to weed. Father, look at these worms! Ugly worms eating your cabbages... stupid worms don't know how to ... how to ... how to dance. Dance in the air, dance for the sun, the sun alone in the desert dreaming his wavering visions ... I have drunk the dreams of the sun, of footsteps and floating mountains ... mountains where I hunt, where I never hunt ... life is a black mothfabric all in shreds, and stars are the eyes ..." 

She fell silent. Skywise tried hard not to laugh at worms not knowing how to dance and mountains floating. He had to clasp his hand on his mouth to silence himself. He would never tell Dilah she spoke in her sleep. That would be a cruelty. The last thing he wanted now was to wake her. 

He had no idea what had changed Dilah's attitude towards him, but he thanked the High Ones for it. Neither could he guess what had kindled her passion to such raging flames, to such a total loss of control. 

Timmorn's blood, what a joining! 


End file.
